College summer leagues have already begun their seasons and Illinois players are among those playing. The University of Illinois baseball program has sent 21 players throughout the the country to 13 teams in nine different summer leagues.
The Northwoods League, always a big client of the U of I, will see eight players from Illinois (Pete Cappetta, Nick Chmielewski, Brandon Wikoff, Phil Haig, Aaron Johnson, Willie Argo, Mike Giller and Corey Kimes) on four of their teams.
Matt Dittman and Doug Schumacher will travel north and play for the Lake Erie Monarchs which is in the Great Lakes Summer League.
Lee Zerrusen will carry the torch for the Illini as he pitches for the Fayetteville Swampdogs in the Coastal Plain League. The Swampdogs have had a rich tradition of Illini playing for them including Shawn Roof, Ben Reeser and Aaron Martin.
Players will be as far west as Dan Parker playing for the Nevada Griffons in the M.I.N.K. League and Casey McMurray on the Santa Barbara Foresters in the California Collegiate League. Wes Braun will be playing as far east as the Albany Dutchmen in the New York Collegiate Baseball League.
More locally, Adam Davis, Bryan Roberts and Will Strack will be on the DuPage Dragons in the Prospect League. No doubt, they will be facing Josh Parr who is joining the Springfield Sliders. Another league in the Chicago area, the Chicago Suburban Baseball League, will be hosting Bill Charvat.
Craig Lutes will be on the Lexington Snipes in the Eastern Illinois League. I’ve actually been to a few EI League games last year. It’ll be worth checking the schedule to see if I can catch Craig in action.
fightingillini.com has a handy web page that lists all the players and what teams they will be stationed at this summer including links to their team and league web pages.